


SOLDIER Girl

by Farasha



Category: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-10-14
Updated: 2007-10-14
Packaged: 2017-10-03 11:41:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Farasha/pseuds/Farasha
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tifa would have made a great SOLDIER First Class.</p>
            </blockquote>





	SOLDIER Girl

"-still can't believe we're being shipped out tomorrow," Zack complained. "I mean, dammit, can't they find another unit to thrash in Wutai? This would be the second time we've gotten sent, and the new third class-"

"I'll be fine, Zack," Cloud said, adjusting his grip on his brand-new SOLDIER-issue saber. "We'll be fine. You have my back, right?"

"Always," Zack said immediately, unthinkingly. "Now that you've finally passed the exam." He ruffled Cloud's hair, rolling with the punch Cloud hit him with in reaction.

"It's - oh, shit." Whatever Cloud had been about to say stuttered to a halt as they entered the practice area and he caught sight of who was already inside.

Tifa stood with one hand on her hip and the other on her battle-scarred buster sword, a scowl on her face as she glared bloody murder at two of the new 3rd Class SOLDIER recruits in their unit. It was her someone-insulted-my-ability-because-of-my-sex look, and it meant bodily harm for the two in front of her.

As he and Zack watched, not quite thinking fast enough to intervene, Tifa hefted her sword behind her one-handed, which made both of the other SOLDIERs goggle a little, and flipped her long braid - with the heavy steel ring braided in - over her shoulder.

"I don't think I really have to remind you that I outrank you," she said mildly. "But if you _really_ think I don't belong in our unit, or in SOLDIER, then come on. Let's see what the two of you have got." She shifted back into stance, finally laying her other hand on the hilt of her sword.

"Tifa," Zack called from the doorway, and she glanced over at the two of them. Cloud winced when he finally got a really good look at her face - her eyes were starting to get the dull orange gleam that the mako had given them, which meant that she was very, very angry. "Tifa, we're being shipped out tomorrow. _Please_ don't kill the new 3rd Class recruits before then."

The two recruits - Jones and Finch, Cloud remembered, they had passed just behind him - began to look nervous now, but Tifa's mouth only twisted up in a sweet smile. "It's all right," she called. "It's just a friendly little sparring session, right? Boys, you know. Always competitive."

Cloud winced. "Don't bother," he muttered to Zack. "I've known her longer than you, remember? She's good and mad now, and the only way she'll calm down is if she beats it out of her system."

"I just don't want to have to run back to my room for a Cure when she breaks one of their arms. Or both of their arms," Zack muttered back.

"Come on, boys. Get your sabers up, and let's go," Tifa said, taking one hand off her sword again and beckoning them toward her.

Cloud sighed. He felt like he should close his eyes, at least, because when Jones and Finch got thrashed they probably didn't want anyone else to see it, but it was like a train wreck, really. You just didn't want to look away.

Finally, Jones hefted his saber and darted in at her. Cloud almost couldn't follow her movements after that; Jones and Finch were fast, and he was just getting used to his enhancements himself, but Tifa was a 1st Class, and she was still much faster than either of them.

He did manage to catch when she spun around, bracing her sword against her body, and cracked Finch in the temple with the heavy steel ring braided into her hair. Cloud winced again in sympathy. He knew she had pulled the blow, or Finch's head would be cracked open, but he knew what that ring felt like. As it was, Finch dropped like a rock, collapsing on the mat and dropping his saber.

Jones lasted a little longer, but it was no contest from the beginning. Tifa danced circles around him until he was sweating and breathing heavily, and then slid under his guard and flipped the edge of her buster sword up to his throat.

Jones threw his saber down with an ugly curse, and Tifa smiled sweetly before backing away, the glow in her eyes finally dying down. Jones's uniform shirt was soaked through, but Tifa had barely broken out in a sweat.

"Any questions, boys? I hope you gathered something from this lesson."

"Lesson, hell!" Jones said, and Zack put a hand to his forehead. "I don't see how you can fight with that much goddamn hair and you're a-"

"Jones!" Zack called from the door, and the man turned with a scowl on his face. "Why don't you take Finch to his bunk? And make sure he has a potion when he wakes up - he doesn't need a headache on the march tomorrow."

Tifa ignored Zack's attempt to distract the other SOLDIER and barreled on with her 'lesson.' "The lesson, Jones. First of all, you knew I was a 1st Class when you picked your fight with me. If the uniform wouldn't have given it away, then the sword should have. Second, if I'm in SOLDIER at all, I can't be your ordinary country girl. And finally," at this she grabbed the front of Jones's uniform and hauled him in close, her smile turning downright nasty. "I didn't pick up and relocate halfway across the damn continent, make it through basic training, become the first girl to pass the SOLDIER exam _and_ survive Wutai to listen to a wet-behind-the-ears 3rd Class insult my ability, you hear me?"

 

Maybe it was the way her hand tightened around her buster sword until the handle groaned under the stress, or the way the mako glow came back in her eyes, or the way her smile widened just a fraction of an inch on the end of that sentence, but Jones stopped struggling to get away and just hung there where Tifa held him. Cloud couldn't see his face, but he could hear the ever-so-slight tremor in his voice when he said, "Yes ma'am, Lieutenant Lockhart."

"Very good," Tifa said, and set him back on his feet none-too-gently. "Now, I suggest you look after Finch there. He should be fine; I didn't hit him _that_ hard, after all, but he'll probably need a potion when he wakes up."

Jones nodded and gathered Finch up over his shoulders, his own saber in its sheath and Finch's laid across the unconscious man's back.

"Oh, and Jones," Tifa called, and Jones froze on his way out of the room. "As for the hair, I really only have two words for you. General. Sephiroth." The pause after that statement was almost tangible. "Dismissed."

Cloud stood aside as he hurried out of the practice room.

"You could have just reported him for insubordination," Zack said.

"I could have," Tifa said, leaning on her buster sword. "But we're going to Wutai tomorrow. And the last thing I need is leftover resentment to get him or me shot in the field. Better for me to deal with it so he'll actually respect me."

"If you say so," Zack said. "All the same, I think I'll take those two under my command if anything comes up. No sense taking chances."

"If you want," Tifa said, noncommittal. She hefted her sword again. "Were you two going to practice?"

"Yeah," Cloud said, tightening his hands on his saber. "I'm still not all the way used to my reflexes, and I don't want it to mess me up when it counts."

"Probably a good idea," she said. "You want to go a couple of rounds?"

"Are you insane?" Cloud asked. "I'll watch you and Zack go, if you really want, but I'm not in the mood for you to run circles around me."

She turned to Zack, the same question on her face, but even he hesitated at the lingering trace of glow in her eyes. "You sure?"

"Well I'm all warmed up, now," she said peaceably, as if she had just gotten done jogging the practice room instead of thrashing new SOLDIERs. "It would be a shame if I didn't get in a real workout."

"All right," Zack said. "Just - it _was_ just Jones and Finch that pissed you off, right? _I_ haven't done anything lately to make you mad?"

"Nah," Tifa said. "Now come on, you big baby."

Cloud set down his saber and hopped up on top of one of the permanent locker units for a relatively safe vantage point.


End file.
